Uriel's scriptural standing depends entirely on which church's canon is being consulted, which makes him a clear case study in how canon boundaries shape which angels count as biblical at all. He does not appear in the Hebrew Bible or in the New Testament accepted by any major Christian tradition. His prominence instead comes from two other bodies of literature: the Book of Enoch, where he appears among the named archangels with responsibility over the world and the underworld, and the text often called Second Esdras or Fourth Ezra, where he serves as the angel who answers Ezra's questions about divine justice. Both works occupy an unusual middle position in different traditions.
The Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches include the Book of Enoch as part of their biblical canon outright, making Uriel a canonical scriptural figure there in a way he is not for Catholic, most Orthodox, or Protestant Christians, for whom Enoch and Second Esdras are apocryphal or, in some editions, placed in a separate appendix rather than the main canon.
A Western church council convened under Pope Zachary in the eighth century specifically addressed devotion to named angels beyond the three, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, attested in texts that council accepted as canonical, treating further named angels including Uriel with active suspicion rather than simple neglect.